Home Again
by Niamara
Summary: James and Lily finally return home. Oneshot.


Disclaimer: Yeah, that's right. I'm a billionaire living in Europe with a husband and kids! As if. Sitting at my kitchen table in Canada more like. Wearing warm and fuzzy pink slippers. Own the plot.

_Home Again_

It all happened so fast. I saw him and I warned Lily to take Harry and run. She looked at me with fear in her eyes, and kissed me one last time. She disappeared, quite unwilling to leave my side, but I knew it was for the best.

I died that night.

Voldemort appeared at the door, laughing maniacally. I knew I couldn't stand up to him long. All I remember was a blinding flash of green light, and then I was there. I don't even know where _there _is.

As much as I wanted to hold Lily once more, to kiss her and tell her that I love her, I wanted, even hoped, that she had escaped Voldemort with Harry.

At the mere thought of Lily it felt as though my heart broke in two. I didn't feel whole. It was as though my very soul had been split.

And then it happened. Lily appeared out of nowhere, tears streaming down her beautiful face. She came running over to me and I hugged her like I had never hugged her before. She was sobbing harder than I've ever seen her sob, and it pained me to see her like that.

She eventually calmed down enough to tell me what happened. I had mixed feelings about her encounter with Voldemort. I admired her bravery more than ever before, but I was enraged that he had still murdered her. Enraged that he could inflict this kind of damage on people, and that I had failed in bringing him down.

But what enraged me the most was that he had tried to kill our only son. Harry wasn't even two, and had already suffered that wrath of Lord Voldemort.

Lily and I waited for so long for Harry to appear, but he never did. Every day we got angrier and more worried that Voldemort could be torturing him. Never in our wildest dreams would we think that Harry could have withstood the killing curse.

As much as I hate to admit it, I cried more than ever in the first few weeks. We both did. I cried for Harry, my only child. I cried for Sirius, my best mate ever and godfather to Harry. I cried for Remus, who was still finding life difficult, not being able to keep a job with his 'condition'. I even cried a little for Peter. I missed his ability to annoy everyone around him.

As the years went by, Lily and I started to accept our fate. We still cried sometimes, but it became less and less frequent.

It came as a total surprise. And to see him looking like he did. It had felt like an eternity, and it was a relief to see him, don't get me wrong, but he looked like a mess.

Sirius was panting like he'd just run a mile. He was shocked to see Lily and me. That's one of the very few times I've ever seen Sirius cry. A tear leaked out of his eye and he hugged us both.

He too told his grueling story. Starting from our deaths, continuing as best as he could. I was infuriated that he had been sent to Azkaban, and not even given a trial! Lily was rocking back and forth, tears streaming down her face, and I could understand why.

Harry had grown up to face Voldemort, and escape, five times thus far. He had suffered great emotional pain, and I was glad to hear that he had wonderful friends helping him through everything. I knew how badly Lily wanted to be there, to comfort him, to hold him, and tell him that everything would be okay, even though it wouldn't. It might never be.

After a while Sirius was telling his story (which had long past gone off track) with such gusto that it felt like things were the way they used to be. The three of us were rolling on the floor laughing. Lily often scoffed at the parts she deemed inappropriate, which Sirius laughed at; it was great to hear laughter in our voices again. We were devoid of it for so long …

Soon we all fell back into our 'brooding phases' as we had begun to call them. Not long after Sirius joined us Remus came, and minutes later Peter joined us too.

We all felt like jumping Peter, beating him to a pulp, after Sirius' explanation of events, but Remus seemed to think everything happened for a reason.

Remus explained to us that Harry had the power to defeat Voldemort, and he was succeeding. We then, to our dismay, left Peter alone, but the thought of beating him still crossed our minds. Quite often.

But as we all assembled there, annoyed by Peter once again, a depressing thought crossed my mind. If someone had told us while we were at Hogwarts, that none of the Marauders would have lived to see the age of 40, we would have told them they were crazy. That they had drunk too much mead.

But here we all are, the Marauders and Lily, laughing hysterically at something Sirius has said. And I look around at everyone, smiling, and it hits me. After striving to find peace for 15 years, I finally realize, that I am home again.

* * *

A/N: I've always thought Lily and James would be watching over Harry even after they died from some unknown place, and here it is I guess. This is the result of wondering where you go after you die. :p You know you wanna click that purple-y-blue button. Give in to the temptation! 

Niamara


End file.
